Category: USFK

Is this just some kind of strange streak of bad luck or are these crashes a symptom of something else?:

Amid an “in-flight emergency,” a U.S. F-16 fighter jet crashed in waters off South Korea’s west coast Wednesday morning, the U.S. Air Force said in a statement, adding that the pilot had “ejected safely” and was transported conscious to a medical facility for assessment. (…..)

This is the second time in less than two months that the U.S. Air Force has experienced incidents with its F-16s. In December, another F-16 fighter jet from the 8th Fighter Wing crashed into the Yellow Sea off South Korea’s southeastern coast, with the pilot also having ejected safely before the crash. At the time, Gaetke ordered a two-day pause on flights for investigation and recovery of the aircraft. It’s unclear if that investigation has concluded.

Last May, another F-16 pilot ejected safely before the aircraft crashed into farmland near Osan Air Base.

TIME

You can read more at the link as well as over at the Stars & Stripes.

Some US Army occupational specialities in South Korea are now going to have the option to take a $5,000 lump sum bonus to extend their tour on the peninsula:

Eighth Army troops in jobs on a critical shortage list may earn up to $5,000 for extending their tours in South Korea for another year. Career specialties on the critical list are eligible for that incentive; jobs deemed “understrength” could be offered $3,600, Eighth Army assistant chief of staff Col. R. Arron Lummer said by email Tuesday.

The critical list includes fire control specialists, rocket system crew members, Black Hawk helicopter mechanics, information technology specialists, satellite communication systems operators, military working dog handlers, preventive medicine specialists, wheeled vehicle mechanics, culinary specialists and AH-64E Apache helicopter pilots. Understrength jobs include combat engineers, joint fire support specialists, air defense enhanced early warning system operators, air traffic controllers, cavalry scouts and utilities equipment repairers. The bonuses are dispersed to eligible soldiers in a lump sum on the first day of their extended yearlong tour in South Korea.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but this is the first time I can remember a large lump sum bonus like this being to keep Soldiers in 8th Army.

This was a good idea by an Air Force spouse:

Sometimes inspiration comes when you least expect it. For Air Force spouse Tenley Brady, it came during a walk in a park.

Brady, from Colorado Springs, Colo., was out with a friend after church for a walk at Osan Air Base, home of the U.S. 7th Air Force, in April when they passed a park near the base commissary. 

The park — a field of grass, a handful of trees, and two benches — is surrounded by a tall, white concrete wall topped by metal fencing.

The thought of bringing a splash of color to the park grew into an 8-month-long volunteer effort to brighten those surroundings. During an interview Dec. 8, Brady, her husband, Lt. Trey Brady, and former Osan community planner Erin Gray explained how the drab park wall became a canvas for a display of Korean culture.

The design shows Ginko trees, cherry blossoms, children playing, and a Buddhist temple atop a hill. It displays the highlights of South Korean culture.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

I did not know that Camp Market had not already been handed over, the facility has been closed for years:

The site of Camp Market, a former U.S. military base, in Bupyeong, about 25 kilometers west of Seoul, is seen in this photo taken Dec. 20, 2023. (Yonhap)

The U.S. military in South Korea fully returned its former base, Camp Market, to the Asian country Wednesday, the defense ministry said, as part of a broad relocation scheme to consolidate its bases across South Korea.

The U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) handed over about 257,000 square meters of land in Camp Market near Seoul to South Korea, four years after returning some 216,000 square meters of land in the base in the first phase.

The agreement was made in a meeting of the South Korea-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement Joint Committee, which governs the legal status of the 28,500 American soldiers stationed in South Korea.

“As the rest of the site of Camp Market, which was used for a bread factory and warehouse, has been returned, the return process of a total of 473,000 square meters of land has been completed,” the defense ministry said in a joint statement with the ministries of foreign affairs, environment and land.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is USFK’s latest response to North Korea’s provocations:

The United States flew long-range bombers for joint drills with South Korea and Japan on Wednesday in a show of force against North Korea, days after the North performed its first intercontinental ballistic missile test in five months.

The trilateral training off South Korea’s southern island of Jeju was meant to strengthen the countries’ joint response against North Korean nuclear threats, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

The exercise involved B-1B bombers and South Korean and Japanese fighter jets, the statement said. It said the B-1Bs’ flyover is the 13th time that a U.S. bomber has been temporarily deployed near and over the Korean Peninsula this year.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Soldiers from Texas are next to deploy to South Korea this winter:

Soldiers from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment fire a 155mm M777 howitzer in support of Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq in June 2019. (Capt. Jason Welch/U.S. Army)

The Army’s 3rd Cavalry Regiment from Fort Cavazos will deploy to South Korea for a planned winter rotation, the Pentagon announced Friday.

The Texas-based unit will replace the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division from Fort Carson in Colorado.

The 3rd Cavalry Regiment is a combined-arms unit from the III Armored Corps that can act as a reconnaissance and security force or as a Stryker combat team, according to the Army’s website.

The previous two Army rotational deployments to South Korea used Stryker combat teams under a Pentagon policy moving away from tank-heavy armored brigades to mobile units with more infantry that can maneuver quickly.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It seems like every other year an F-16 crashes into the Yellow Sea, here is the latest example. Fortunately the pilot was recovered safely:

An Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon crashed Monday morning off South Korea’s western coast, according to the 8th Fighter Wing.

The fighter from Kunsan Air Base was flying over the Yellow Sea when it experienced an in-flight emergency at 8:43 a.m., the wing said in a news release Monday.

The pilot ejected and was rescued at sea by the South Korean navy and coast guard, 7th Air Force spokeswoman Maj. Rachel Buitrago told Stars and Stripes by phone Monday.

A South Korean air force helicopter airlifted the pilot to Kunsan, she added.

The pilot is awake and in stable condition, according to the news release.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

No reductions in the U.S. troop presence in South Korea will be coming in the latest budget proposal:

Soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division stand in formation during a rehearsal on Robertson Field at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, May 15, 2023. (Frank Spatt/U.S. Army)

U.S. troop levels in South Korea will remain the same under an annual budget proposal submitted to Congress by the House and Senate Armed Services Committees on Thursday.

Committee lawmakers from both chambers released their negotiated copy of the National Defense Authorization Act allocating $886 billion to fund the Defense Department through the next fiscal year.

Under the proposal, the roughly 28,500 U.S. troops deployed to South Korea will be maintained to affirm “the United States commitment to extended deterrence using the full range of … defense capabilities.”

Most of those troops are stationed at Camp Humphreys, the largest U.S. military base overseas, roughly 40 miles south of Seoul. It’s home to around 35,000 service members and DOD civilians and serves as headquarters for U.S. Forces Korea, Eighth Army, the 2nd Infantry Division and the Combined Forces Command.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

If war was to break out on the peninsula being able to deal with chemical, biological, and nuclear threats will be important skills for Soldiers to master:

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command has released photos of a U.S. Army chemical corps company conducting joint drills with South Korean forces near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) amid heightened tension along the border with North Korea. 

American soldiers from the 59th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear Company have been training together with U.S. Forces Korea and South Korean troops near the DMZ to bolster the combined defense posture, the command said in a post Wednesday (local time), without specifying the schedule.

The New York-based company has been on a nine-month rotational deployment in Camp Casey in Dongducheon, 41 km north of Seoul, since July in support of the 2nd Infantry Division and Eighth Army stationed in South Korea. The company attended the Ulchi Freedom Shield, an annual joint military exercise held by South Korea and U.S. forces in August. 

The training focused on reconnaissance and decontamination missions as well as countering weapons of mass destruction, and chemical, biological and nuclear hazards, according to the command.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but by the way has anyone ever seen MOPP suits like the ones shown in the picture? They must be a new model becasue I have never seen ones like that before.